Starting Over
by Nymphadora1506
Summary: Post DH. Hermione returns to the Burrow after a long time. One-shot.


_None of the characters, settings, blah blah blah.. belong to me... it's quite obvious..._

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"Ron…"

Ron pulled his blankets closer, without bothering to respond.

"Ron! Wake up!" a hand prodded him.

He still didn't open his eyes. Who the hell was calling him in the middle of the night?

"Ronald…" the voice sounded a little irate now.

His eyes snapped open. Only one person called him 'Ronald' like that. Suddenly, he felt wide awake.

"Hermione!"

Hermione smiled at him, perhaps at his expression. He rubbed his eyes, afraid she might vanish as he did so. But she didn't, she was sitting on his bed, an amused expression on her face. Without another word he sat up and hugged her as tightly as he could. She didn't respond for a moment, but then she relaxed and hugged him back. After a few seconds, he released her.

"It's really you, isn't it?" said Ron, a bubble of happiness blowing in his chest, "You're back."

Hermione smiled, "yeah, I guess I am."

Ron couldn't believe his eyes. After the final battle, Hermione had disappeared completely. Well, she kept in touch but they never saw her. She had gone to Australia and with some difficulty, managed to find her parents and lift the memory charm. She wanted to spend some time with them and that was exactly what she did.

But now she was here, thought Ron, as he looked at her closely. She was wearing a leather jacket, which he noticed, had flecks of snow on it. Even her bushy hair was spotted with snow. But her face was glowing with happiness and it filled him with delight to see her in person after so many weeks. He took in everything slowly— her brown eyes, her slightly freckled face, her perfectly shaped lips and the familiar bushy hair that, he noticed, had grown quite long.

He couldn't speak for a while as he scrutinized her; she seemed to be doing the same, a slightly morose expression on her face. Finally, he said, "How, I mean, we thought—"

"I told my parents that I wanted to spend Christmas here." She cut in, in answer to his unfinished question. She removed her scarf and brushed the snow from her hair and shoulders. "And I was really missing you all." She shrugged.

"It's unbelievable!" he said weakly. "It's so great you're back. When did you arrive? Wait" he looked around, realizing it was still dark. "What time is it?"

"Five," replied Hermione, checking her watch.

"Whoa," said Ron, "And," he glanced towards his right at the inanimate figure, curled up in blankets on a mattress, that was Harry. "Does anyone know you're here?"

Hermione, who was now looking at Harry, probably noticing him for the first time, said, "Yeah, your mum's awake, getting things ready for Christmas." She looked at Ron again, "She seemed pleased to see me."

Ron looked incredulous. "Pleased? Of course she's pleased, you idiot! She must be euphoric." Hermione seemed startled. He looked at her for a moment without speaking and tried to remember the time they'd last been together. It was right after the battle when Hermione had informed him of her decision. He'd accepted without protesting and she'd left right then, after giving Ron a swift kiss on his lips. The moment seemed ages away. Ron pursed his lips.

"You don't know, Hermione" he said slowly, "you really don't know what it's been like."

Hermione gave him a sympathetic smile; it seemed that she was ready for this, because she reached out for his hands and held them gently. He looked down at their hands, relishing her touch and continued.

"It's nothing like we imagined—we thought everything was alright, while—" it pained him to recount everything, "nothing was, actually."

Hermione squeezed his fingers with her cold hands. He swallowed. "Mum's been crying her eyes out practically all the time and Dad can't do much to comfort her. We feel the same. We—" he took a deep breath, "We don't know what to do..."

Hermione's eyes filled up with tears as she said, "I'm so sorry Ron, I really am. I knew what things would be like and I—" she stopped for a moment, "I wanted to find my parents and be with them and run away from all this..."

Ron didn't know what to say. But he couldn't bear to see her crying, "Don't cry, Hermione," he said awkwardly, "you're back now, right? It's all that matters." She continued to sob quietly and he pulled her close, beside him and put his arm around her. She didn't resist when he did so and rested her head on his shoulder. Gradually her sobs faded.

"Yeah, I realised it was about time," she said softly and looked up at Ron. "And we'll go back to Hogwarts after the holidays, you know that right?" He nodded, remembering the letter he got last week. She smiled and turned to look at Harry, her head still resting on his shoulder.

"How is he?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.

Ron looked at his best friend and said, "Not himself." Hermione sighed. "He doesn't talk much, not even to Ginny."

"Knowing him, he's probably thinking that you guys don't want to talk to him," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Probably" said Ron, considering the fact for the first time, amazed at how well Hermione knew them. He was beginning to feel that things would be alright now that she'd come back. "Honestly, the idiot."

Hermione said nothing; she snuggled closer to Ron which made his heart beat faster but not uncomfortably. She put her head on his chest and closed her eyes. He noticed that her cheeks were pink and there was a smile on her face. He started rubbing his thumb over her fingers and he realised he wanted to hold her like that forever. Everything was perfect already, he couldn't remember being miserable at all.

"Ron?" she whispered after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Let's—let's start over."

"Hmmm?"

"I mean," she raised her head and looked directly at him, "we both know things can't go back to how they were at one time."

As he stared into her eyes, all his memories at Hogwarts came rushing back to him—the sorting, the first flying lesson, the flying Ford Anglia, their visits to Hagrid's hut, the Yule ball, his becoming the keeper, Hermione beside him at the hospital wing, Hermione correcting his homework, Hermione punching Malfoy... He smiled at the last one but also felt a pang of anguish at the same time at Hermione's words.

"What?" she demanded, a trace of her bossiness creeping back into her voice.

"Nothing." He said quickly. "It's just," he continued as her eyes started narrowing slightly, "I just remembered how you'd punched Malfoy." He smiled again as the image flashed in his mind.

"Oh," said Hermione, smiling too, "that was something."

"It was bloody spectacular," he said, relieved that she was smiling.

She tried not to look too pleased with herself as she said, "Anyway, that's what I'm saying. So, instead of trying to get things to how they were before, we should just start all over again. Forget everything that happened," she looked at him earnestly, "you know what I mean?"

Honestly, he was not quite sure what she meant, but he was willing to forget about the past. He knew it was for the best; he looked at her and smiled, "Yeah, we...we could do that."

And before he knew it Hermione had pulled him into another tight hug which he returned and said quietly, "Don't leave like that again, will you?"

"Don't worry," she replied, "I won't." And then to his surprise, she added, "And Harry, how much longer are you planning to pretend you're not awake?"

Ron, who was facing Harry, gaped in surprise as he saw Harry's lips curve upwards as he smiled, "Merry Christmas Hermione."

Hermione, who was still hugging Ron, didn't turn as she said, "Merry Christmas Harry," while Ron shook his head in disbelief.

One thing was for sure, he thought, things would definitely be a hundred times better now.

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**A/N: I wanted to write something like this for a long time...and I did it! I was supposed to be studying when I wrote this but hey! I'm not gonna waste my holidays studying...ok i dunno why I wrote that it's not important..**

**Anyway I hope you guys liked this one...please review and let me know! Oh and btw, memory charms can be lifted right? Or what? I mean, I don't want Hermione to lose her parents forever..:(**

**Thanks for reading! :):)**


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